Junichiro Koizumi

Junichiro Koizumi (8 January 1942-) was Prime Minister of Japan from 26 April 2001 to 26 September 2006, succeeding Yoshiro Mori and preceding Shinzo Abe. He was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan.

Biography
Junichiro Koizumi was born in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan in 1942 to a political family, and he graduated from Keio University and the London School of Economics. In 1970, he became a secretary to Finance Minister Takeo Fukuda, and he was elected to the National Diet in 1972 as a member of the Jiminto party. In 1989, he became Health Minister under Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, and he served as Minister of Posts and Telecommunication under Kiichi Miyazawa and as Health Minister under Sosuke Uno and Ryutaro Hashimoto. In 2001, he became President of the LDP, and he defeated Hashimoto during the 2001 election to become the new Prime Minister.

Koizumi planned to act against bad debts with commercial banks, privatize the postal savings system, and reorganize the factional structure of the LDP. The economy went through a slow but steady recovery, and the stock market dramatically rebounded. He also moved the LDP away from its traditional rural agrarian base to a more urban, neoliberal core, and he also slowed down the LDP's heavy subsidies for infrastructure and industrial development in rural areas. Junichiro would also become incredibly warm friends with President of the United States George W. Bush, playing catch with a baseball with him at Camp David. In 2003, owing to their friendship, Junichiro committed Japanese troops to assist the USA during the Iraq War. In 2006, he decided to retire after a lengthy term in office, and he chose to let the party pick a successor for him. Shinzo Abe succeeded him as Prime Minister on 26 September 2006.